


make my way back home [when i learn to fly]

by ashleygail



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Genre: A little bit of high school musical, Alternate Universe- High School, Bullying, Cheerleader!Audra, Cheerleader!Kay, Cheerleader!Richie, Homophobic Language, Jock!Mike, M/M, Multi, Period Typical Homophobia, Recreational Drug Use, Sonia Kaspbrak's A+ Parenting, Track Star!Eddie, a little bit of 90s teen drama, jock!eddie, nerd!richie, no pennywise
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:34:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22217872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashleygail/pseuds/ashleygail
Summary: He stiffened for a moment, thinking it was Coach Henderson coming over to yank him to his feet, but the touch was much too gentle. “Hey, Richie. Come on.” Eddie Kaspbrak’s voice whispered in his ear, and Richie had to wonder if the fall had knocked him completely unconscious. He let Eddie pull him to his feet, and mostly just stared at the other boy as Eddie helped him gather up the loose- and now slightly damp and dirty- Chemistry notes.[or: class scholar richie tozier and school track and field icon eddie kaspbrak rekindle their childhood friendship loosely based off theart conceptby @caliceal]
Relationships: Beverly Marsh/Kay McCall, Bill Denbrough/Mike Hanlon, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Patricia Blum Uris/Stanley Uris
Comments: 14
Kudos: 121





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I know I've been AWOL for like two months, but we're working through and getting back to writing! Updates for my other fics are coming, promise promise!

“HEY FOUR EYES!” 

Richie was breaking into a sprint before he even had a second to think about it. He took off, leaving his friends behind, without even stopping to wonder if there was a possibility that they weren’t even shouting at him. Too risky. The assholes in this school had been tormenting him his entire life, whether it be because of his glasses or his messy clothes or from the mere fact that he was so much smarter than they were, Richie wasn’t sure. He’d probably never know the truth. 

Despite all the years of running away from bullies, Richie Tozier wasn’t exactly in great shape. He knew that even with a head start, he wouldn’t be able to outrun those bastards forever, so he took a sharp left and rushed out the back doors. He went up the cement stairs three at a time, praying that he didn’t fall and get a severe injury. He skipped, nearly face planting himself on the hard gravel, but let out a soft breath of relief when he didn’t. 

He steadied his feet and smiled around him. before realizing, of course, that he was carrying his seventh period books in his bag, and all the necessary items for doing his homework were still inside his locker. Richie huffed out an annoyed breath. There was no way he could go back inside now and risk getting caught by Bowers and his goons, presenting himself as a perfect target. He trudged over to the bleachers and dropped his bag carefully to the cold metal before sitting beside them. 

He rummaged through his backpack and pulled out his tattered copy of _ Dead Poet’s Society _ . Though not an old book by any means, it was already well loved. It had been Richie’s first real purchase, saving up the allowances of an eleven year old boy for nearly a year after seeing it in stores when it was released. As Richie had gotten older, he had begun to understand both why his father didn’t want to buy it for him, and why it called to him so deeply. Nearly four years after its purchase, it was still Richie’s favourite book and was rarely out of his possession. 

The commotion on the field dragged Richie’s attention away from his book before he could open up to the page he had marked to reread. The track team was running out of formation, and even Richie could tell that Coach Henderson looked pissed. Richie hadn’t interacted much with the gym teacher since gym stopped being a mandatory class at the end of freshman year, and admittedly, he actively avoided anywhere in the school he might run into the teacher who had told him directly to his face that he was only passing Richie so he wouldn’t have to teach him again the next year.

One of the students caught Richie’s eye and Richie felt his face begin to heat up. Eddie Kaspbrak. Once upon a time, a million years ago, Eddie and Richie had been friends. Frank Kaspbrak, Eddie’s father, and Richie’s mother had grown up together and were long time friends. Mrs. Kaspbrak had never liked the Toziers, never trusted Richie’s mother around her husband, and after Frank had died, she had done everything in her power to push Richie and Eddie apart. It wasn’t hard to stop five year olds from spending time with one another, and eventually, Eddie became just another face in the crowded school hallway.

Or, at least, he should have. Somehow, despite years of distance and borderline indifference, Richie Tozier still had a bit of a soft spot for Eddie Kaspbrak. Even after little dorky Eds ditched his fanny packs and colour shorts for sports wear and gym bags, Richie maintained firm that Eddie was good. All of Richie’s friends claimed that all jocks must be terrible, and Richie had yet to have any proof that they weren’t all egomaniac assholes, but he just didn’t believe that his first best friend could be like that. It was possible for people to simply  _ like sports  _ and not be terrible people, right? 

Richie didn’t notice his backpack tipping over until the papers started to blow through the field and towards the track team that seemed to be in the middle of getting their asses handed to them by Coach Henderson. Richie cringed and cursed under his breath, wondering for a moment if his grades could handle losing all of his AP Chemistry notes and he could get away with just taking off before the team noticed him. 

“What the- TOZIER!” Coach Henderson shouted, turning his attention and rage away from the members of the team and towards Richie, who was frantically grabbing at the papers still close enough for him to reach. “You’re distracting my runners! Come get your work and get out of here! This is a closed practice, boy!” 

Richie scrambled to his feet and rushed out onto the field, only to immediately slip in the grass and go crashing into the ground. He let out a small and pathetic noise that was completely involuntary and slipped out from the back of his throat, listening as the laughs of the track team immediately erupted around him. For a moment, Richie contemplated laying there until he died, but then he felt a hand rest on his shoulder. 

He stiffened for a moment, thinking it was Coach Henderson coming over to yank him to his feet, but the touch was much too gentle. “Hey, Richie. Come on.” Eddie Kaspbrak’s voice whispered in his ear, and Richie had to wonder if the fall had knocked him completely unconscious. He let Eddie pull him to his feet, and mostly just stared at the other boy as Eddie helped him gather up the loose- and now slightly damp and dirty- Chemistry notes.

“I think they’re salvageable.” Eddie told him, with a soft smile. Richie blinked at him, and hoped his cheeks weren’t as red as they felt like they were. 

He opened his mouth to respond, to make some sort of awkward joke or simply just  _ thank Eddie,  _ but Coach Henderson’s loud and annoyed voice cut him off. “KASPBRAK! Get over here or you’ll be running suicides for the rest of the week!”

Eddie shot Richie an apologetic look and jogged back over to the rest of his team. Richie stared after him for a moment, knowing he had on a dazed expression, but Coach Henderson gave another angry shout of his last name and Richie took off the field. He grabbed his bag, not bothering to try to cram his papers back inside, and rushed into the school. Surely the Bowers gang would have taken off by now. They weren’t exactly the type to loiter around after the final bell rang.

Stanley Uris, however, certainly was. He was leaning against Richie’s locker, and he looked almost as angry as Coach Henderson had just looked outside. Richie cringed and knew he was dragging his feet as he walked over. Stan’s hands came down to his hips and skewered Richie with his deepest disappointed look. “Did you forget that we’re supposed to go to the library after school today? We have to get ahead for the decathlon, Richie! It’s our last time to win! Aren’t you taking this seriously?”

“ _ Yes,  _ I’m taking it seriously, Staniel!” Richie snapped, tossing his bag to the ground and yanking out his Chemistry binder to begin putting his papers back into place. “I didn’t forget about the library.” He had. “Bowers and his gang chased me outside after last period. I was just waiting until I felt like it might be safe to come back into the school.”

“Oh.” Stan immediately dropped his angry stance and calmed his expression. “They messed with your notes? They’re such assholes.”

“Uh.” Richie cleared his throat, quickly shoving the rest of his notes into his bag before Stan could reach down and help him. “No actually, I just didn’t… my backpack fell while I was waiting outside and my shit flew all around the field.”

Stan made a sympathetic noise. “Bet Coach Henderson was real understanding about that.” 

Richie chuckled his throat. “Yeah, not so much. But actually…” He smiled towards the ground. “Uh, Eddie helped me get my stuff up. He didn’t laugh at me.”

Stan’s hands froze in the midst of helping Richie zip up the bag. Richie slowly moved to look at Stan and frowned when he noticed the skeptical look on Stan’s face. “What?”

“I just-” Stan quickly zipped up Richie’s bag and handed it to him, pulling them both up to their feet. “I thought you were over this whole  _ Eddie is a good guy  _ stuff. I know you want to believe that, but we aren’t five years old anymore.” 

Stanley was the first friend Richie had ever made on his own. For a short period of time, both Eddie and Stan had been a part of Richie’s close friends- along with another neighbourhood boy, Bill Denbrough, who was still around somewhere- but Stan was the only one Richie was really close with anymore. They were pretty much inseparable, and Stan had made it clear that he certainly didn’t believe their former friend was a nice guy at all.

“I know you hate him or whatever-” 

“I don’t hate him. I don’t even know him.” Stan interrupted him. “But neither do  _ you.  _ Rich, he’s not five years old anymore. You having a sandbox crush on Kaspbrak doesn’t mean he’s a good person. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Richie stiffened. This was the first time he and Stan had ever said anything close to acknowledgement of Richie’s sexuality. And while in all of their years of friendship, Richie had never heard Stan say anything hateful, Richie still felt fearful of saying the words out loud for fear of losing his oldest and dearest friend. He sometimes wondered if Stan knew, but it had never come up in any sort of conversation. 

The two friends looked at one another sadly for a moment before Richie plastered a smile over his face. “No need to fear, Stanny my Stanny! You know by now you’re my one and only. No need to get jealous!”

Stan rolled his eyes as Richie tossed an arm around his shoulders and chuckled loudly into his ear. Stan attempted to swat him away, but Richie only held onto him tighter. “Noooooooo!!” Richie moaned dramatically. “My love rejects me! Whatever should I do? I simply cannot live after such heart break!”

Stan struggled to get free from Richie’s grip, only succeeding at knocking them both to the dirty vinyl flooring. Richie cackled, squeezing Stan tightly and continuing to enjoy his overdramatic struggles until somebody cleared their throat behind them. Richie and Stan quickly leapt apart, Stan managing to get to his feet quickly while glaring at Richie. Richie sat up onto his ass and blinked in surprise as he took in the site of Eddie Kaspbrak, standing awkwardly and looking between the two of them warily.

“Can we help you?” Stan asked him coolly. 

Eddie blinked at him then frowned with a deep furrow of his brow. “Just uh… Richie left this book outside on the bleachers when he ran off. I wanted to make sure he got it.” Eddie held out the ratty copy of  _ Dead Poet’s Society  _ and Richie’s heart clenched in his chest. How could he not have noticed he’d left it behind? 

Richie scrambled to his feet and ran to Eddie, graciously accepting the book and pressing it to his chest. “Oh my god, thank you so much!”

“No problem.” Eddie said, sounding almost bashful. “It looked worn down, so I figured you must really care about it. I didn’t want anything to  _ happen  _ to it and you never get it back.”

Richie thanked Eddie again, hugging the book close. Eddie looked at Richie for a moment more before giving him a small smile. “You know, uh, practice gets out in about forty minutes? I know that’s a while but if you wanted to wait, then after maybe we could-”

“Sorry.” Stan suddenly interrupted loudly, causing the boys who had both forgotten his presence to jump. Stan stalked over and stood at Richie’s side. “We have to get going actually, Eddie. We have some very important studying to do for scholastic decathlon next month. Sorry.”

“Oh.” Eddie said quietly, looking a little dejected. “Right, of course. Sorry. Another time then.”

“For sure.” Richie said lightly, but Stan was already tugging on his arm and pulling him back towards his locker to get the rest of his things. Eddie kicked at the ground for a moment before turning and jogging back outside. “That was  _ rude.”  _ He hissed at Stan.

Stanley rolled his eyes. “You’ll thank me later.” 


	2. Chapter 2

Audra Phillips rushed up behind Kay McCall and wrapped her arms around her best friend’s waist. She leaned close to her ear and giggled into it. “Don’t look now, but I think you’ve got yourself a fan.” 

Kay, of course, looked. She glanced over her shoulder while Audra was still wrapped around her waist. Sitting on the bleachers behind their practice was a scrawny boy with thick black curls and glasses perched on his nose. Truthfully, the only time people ever sat on those bleachers outside of games were to watch the cheerleaders practise but Audra frowned to herself. “Who? Richie Tozier?” She asked with a chuckle. “I doubt it.”

Audra frowned and narrowed her eyes at the nerdy boy, letting go of Kay’s waist and walking over to him. It took him a moment to recognize that she was approaching him, but once he did, his eyes blew open wide and his cheeks began to turn pink. Kay almost felt a little bad for him as she noticed him beginning to nervously pick at the skin around his nails. 

“Hey! Nerdy!” Audra called out to him, making the boy jump though he’d clearly been aware of her approaching. Kay sighed and moved over to them slowly, catching the eye of her girlfriend, Beverly. Beverly stood immediately and came to join Kay where Audra was currently standing above a scared looking Richie Tozier.

“Do your little friends know that you’re skipping out on studying to gwauck at the cheerleaders?” Audra teased. 

If possible, Richie’s cheeks seemed to glow an even deeper red. “I’m- uh. They, uh, they. No.”

Audra raised one eyebrow. “ _ No?  _ No, what? No, they don’t know you’re here? Where do they think you are then?”

Richie’s mouth opened, but he seemed unable to make any words come out. Beverly rolled her eyes and dropped down beside him on the bleachers, tossing her arm around his shoulders. “Lay off, Auds. I promise you- Richie wasn’t interested in you guys cheerleading.”

It was almost scary how quickly Richie’s face lost colour, considering how flushed he had been a mere second earlier. His eyes flickered out towards the field- a quick, fleeting things, but enough that Audra and Kay noticed. Audra turned around, her shoulders lowering as she caught sight of boys doing their own warm ups and cool downs. The soccer team was starting to flood onto the field as the track and field kids were rushing themselves off and towards the showers. At the center of the field now, pushing brown hair that had curled from sweat away from his face, was-

“Eddie Kaspbrak?” Audra asked, turning back to Richie with her defences now lowered completely. “You’re here to watch Eddie Kaspbrak? He’s cute.”

Richie swayed slightly on the spot, looking like a small animal about to make a break for it before something larger and stronger could eat it. Beverly squeezed his shoulder, and made eye contact with Kay. “Don’t worry, Tozier. We won’t tell anybody. It’s okay.”

Richie loosened his shoulders a minor bit, but still seemed tense and on edge. “Please. I know- I know it’s stupid and it’s wrong but please don’t-”

“It’s not.” Kay said firmly. “It’s not stupid  _ or  _ wrong. So, don’t sweat about it. We already said we won’t tell anybody.” 

Audra nodded along and suddenly seemed thoughtful. She crossed her arms over her chest and smirked. “We would never tell, but if you want- we can help you get his attention.” Kay and Beverly blinked at each other while Richie looked at Audra with scared, yet curious eyes. Audra kept smirking. “We  _ do  _ have a free spot on the squad, you know? Didn’t have enough good bitches at tryouts. You can have it if you want it. Worst case scenario, Eddie doesn’t notice you but you get a real front row seat to his practises and games.”

Richie swallowed audibly and Beverly chuckled, rubbing his back gently. “But I- I’m not a cheerleader. I’m a boy-”

“That doesn't matter.” Audra said. “Boys have been cheerleaders here before, there’s no rule against it. People might be assholes, but aren’t they always?”

Richie scratched at his face and looked almost a little- hopefully. “I don’t know how.”

“We can teach you if you’re actually interested in learning.” Kay pitched in, giving him a small smile. “From what I can tell, you’re a pretty quick learner, Richie Tozier.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Richie smiled a little bashfully for a moment, but it dropped almost as quickly as it appeared. “Wait, I can’t. The decathlon, I can’t let my team down! It’s really important and-”

“Everybody else can do more than one extra cuccuraliar, Tozier.” Audra pointed out. “Why can’t you?” 

Richie swallowed and glanced between the two cheerleaders for a moment before his eyes finally landed on Beverly. Beverly, with her dark eye makeup and ripped up jean jacket over faded Salvation Army clothes. “It’s no longer a jock date jock world,” she said, lips quirked up in a smile. Kay pressed a hand to her mouth to cover her own smile. “ _ But  _ if you really want to spend more time with Eddie, it might be a nice boost to exist in his world with him.”

Richie pursed his lips and Kay suddenly felt a weird, almost mother-like protectiveness come over her towards the awkward boy. “You can do both. You can miss a studying session every once in a while, right?” 

Richie obviously still held some hesitation, but Audra rushed forward and grabbed his wrists. She pulled him to his feet. “Don’t answer now then, chicken.” She said with a laugh. “Let’s just… see what you can do. Are you flexible?”

Richie flushed up to the roots of his hair.

Eddie knew he was the only person on the track team who’s cool down took this long. Half his team mates hit the showers as soon as practice was over, not even bothering to cool down at all. He was certain that’s why his times were much better than the rest of the runners, though he would never say something like that. Though, Eddie could admit that he was dragging out this cool down a little long even for him. Avoiding going home would do that to a person, he supposed. His mother was always unbearable when he’d come home from practise, often going as far as to try dragging him to the hospital emergency room to make sure he hadn’t injured himself in any way. Despite how obvious it was that he hadn’t.

Eddie pulled himself back up to stand straight, stretching his arms above his head, when something across the field caught his eye. The cheerleaders. Now, Eddie was never distracted by the cheerleaders and their practises. He remembered when they’d first started practising part way through the track and field meetings, it had been an issue. Eddie’s male teammates had been distracted by the presence of the girls, and had even neglected their own responsibility to flirt (and annoy) the cheerleaders. Though they’d eventually gotten used to sharing the space, Eddie had never been one of them. 

He wasn’t distracted by them now, either, except that he was. It’s just that he’d never expected to see Audra Phillips trying to help Richie Tozier make a high kick while the rest of the cheerleaders sat around and giggled in amusement. Eddie pulled his leg up to his chest, balancing on one foot and stretching a muscle that didn’t need any more stretching, while he watched Audra push Richie’s leg higher into the air with her hands. 

Eddie was so caught up in the image in front of him that he didn’t notice the shout coming from behind him. There was a dull pain in the back of his head, and he found himself face down in the grass. Groaning, Eddie rolled into his back and threw an arm over his eyes.

“Oh shit, Eddie!” Mike Hanlon crouched at his side. Eddie rolled his eyes internally.  _ Of course  _ Mike would hit him in the back of the head with a soccer ball, making it obvious to everybody on the field that Eddie was watching the cheerleading practise. “I tried to warn you, guess you couldn’t hear me. I’m so sorry.”

Eddie pushed himself up onto his elbows and glowered at Mike. It didn’t hurt, truthfully, Eddie’s ego was bruised more than anything else. Suddenly, two pairs of knees dropped down beside him and to his horror, Eddie looked up to see Richie Tozier and Beverly Marsh looking down at him in concern.

“Oh man, Eddie.” Richie said, hand hoving out like he wanted to comfort Eddie but he wasn’t sure how he could. “Are you alright? That looked rough.”

“We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” was Eddie’s only response. Richie looked caught off guard for a moment, before letting out a sharp laugh. 

“Yeah, I guess we do.” Richie gave Eddie a smile. It was a weird smile, Eddie pondered. Small, almost private somehow. Like something between two close friends, but Eddie wasn’t sure that applied to him and Richie anymore. Or was that sort of bond something that never went away?

Eddie let Beverly and Mike help him to his feet, and brushed himself off. He was going to have to wash this uniform himself, because if his mom saw how dirty it was now she’d know he’d fallen and would drag them to the emergency room so fast Eddie wouldn’t have a chance to argue with her.  _ Without  _ even knowing he’d been hit in the head. 

“So,” Eddie cocked his brow at Richie and grinned. “You’re a cheerleader now? I did not see that coming. Never took you for the athletic type, Rich.” 

“Well, I’m not-” Richie started saying as his cheeks turned red, but stopped suddenly as Mike’s hand came down and clasped him on the shoulder.

“You’re a cheerleader, man?” He asked, and Richie’s shoulder stiffened like he thought Mike might deck him directly in the face for such a thing. But Mike just broke into a huge grin. “That’s sick! Congrats man! Hey- my man Bill is having a party at his place today. You should come.”

Eddie and Richie looked at Mike with matching looks of surprise and horror on their faces.

“I should?”

“He should?”

A smile of pure amusement slid across Beverly’s face.

“For sure!” Mike said happily, grabbing the offending ball that had nailed Eddie in the back of his head. He glared at it angrily. “And bring your friends? Patty and her boyfriend? The more the merrier!”

Mike took off at a run, kicking the ball back towards his mates, and Eddie quickly excused himself from Richie and took off for a long, long shower. He felt a little bad for wishing that Richie would decide not to show up that night.

[⋆](http://eddiekaspprak.tumblr.com/) [⋆](http://eddiekaspprak.tumblr.com/) [⋆](http://eddiekaspprak.tumblr.com/)

“So let me get this straight.” Stan said as they walked down the dark streets of Derry. It was only a little after nine, but winter was quickly approaching and Richie had already noticed them getting less and less sunlight everyday. “Mike Hanlon invited you to a party.  _ The  _ Mike Hanlon. Jock king Mike Hanlon. Vegan angel Mike Hanlon-”

“Okay,” Richie tossed an arm around Stanley’s shoulders and let out an awkward little laugh. “Put that man boner down, people are gonna start thinking you’re using Miss Blum and I can’t allow that.”

Stan punched Richie’s in the side, causing his best friend to double over slightly. Richie had put some sort of effort into this outfit this night- pressed black jeans and the tamest button up he owned, simple red and black plaid. He’d even attempted to tame his black curls by piling them up onto his head. Stan, however, aws wearing the same pale green polo shirt and khaki pants that he’d worn to school that day. Richie supposed it was lucky that Stan always looked well-put together.

“Bringing up Patty just reminds me that I could be hanging out with my girlfriend instead of being dragged around by you.” Stan said dryly as Richie wheezed from his punch. “Or literally anything else, actually. Do you care to explain what the hell we’re doing here?”

Richie rolled his eyes. “I’ve told you a million times- I’m not sure how it happened. I was just sitting around the field after school-”

“Creeping on Eddie Kaspbrak after school. Got it.” Stan said.

Richie glowered at him. “Shut up.” He said, “And then I was just talking with Audra and-”

“No, okay, this is where you lose me.” Stan waved Richie’s story to a stop. “Because you sitting there drooling over your lost sandbox love I can believe. But Audra Phillips willingly talking to you? Mike Hanlon inviting you to a party? No, sorry. Sounds like a bad cliche.”

“Okay well..” Richie cleared his throat. “They  _ did  _ start talking to me because they thought I was watching them. Being a creepy perv or-”

“You’re still a creepy perv even if you’re watching the athletes and not the cheerleaders.” Stan pointed out with a grin. 

Richie stopped walking and turned to glare at his best friend. “Would you  _ stop  _ interrupting me? I thought you wanted to hear the story. Jesus. And cheerleaders  _ are  _ athletes, asshole, have you seen the shit they can do? Don’t be sexist, Stanley.” 

Stan let out a highly impatient sigh. “Alright, you’re talking to the cheerleaders and then Mike Hanlon comes up all god-like and asks you to come to a party tonight at Bill Denbrough’s.” 

“Yes,” Richie said. “You’re missing the part where he hit Eddie in the head with a soccer ball, but yes, that’s what happened. And then I asked you to come with me as emotional support and you agreed because you’re actually a good best friend.” 

Stan scowled at him as the music booming from the Denbrough house became audible down the road. Stan groaned. “This is already insane. The police are going to be called for sure. My parents will kill me if we get arrested. Then they’ll kill you for dragging me here.”

Richie shrugged. “It’s all part of the high school experience, Stan my Man. Lemme go introduce you to your man crush.”

Stan mumbled vague threats under his voice while Richie rushed up ahead towards the crowded house. Beverly Marsh was seated on the railing of the front porch, a poorly rolled joint between her fingers. She broke into a grin when she caught sight of Richie and Stan coming up towards the house. “Richie Tozier…” She drawled, lips turning up as she blew out a mouthful of smoke. 

Stan wrinkled his nose up as Richie skipped up towards her. He leaned over the railing beside her, and she leaned into him. Stan stood slightly off to the side, eyes narrowed and arms crossed. Beverly looked him up and down and smirked. “You brought a friend. Interesting.”

Richie glanced between them, eyes going slightly wider and cleared his throat. “Oh, yeah, Bev this is-”

“Stanley Uris.” She finished for him, holding the joint out towards Stan. Stan looked down at it in disgust and waved it away. Shrugging, Beverly handed it to Richie who held it awkwardly between his fingers. “ _ Mr  _ Future Valedictorian. I know who he is.”

Stan’s cheeks pinkened and scratched at his cheeks. “Lots of people could still be valedictorian. There’s lots of time for things to happen.”

“That’s true.” Beverly agreed with a small nod. “Grades aren’t everything, and now that Richie here is gonna have some sports under his belt-”

“What?” Stan snapped. “ _ What  _ sports, Richie?”

Richie quickly brought the joint up to his mouth and took a deep heavy inhale for something to avoid answering his best friend. Much more than he’d ever bargained for, as per usual with Richie. He felt his throat and chest tighten and begin to burn as coughs dragged themselves from his body as though they were being ripped right from him. His entire vision was blinded by tears as he folder over at the waist.

“Jesus!” He dimly heard Beverly saying as two pairs of hands grabbed at him. Richie felt as though he was coughing for hours, before any actual air found its way back into his lungs. He straightened up slowly, aware of Beverly rubbing soft circles into his back. 

“Are you trying to kill him?” Stan snapped at Beverly.

Beverly laughed. “I didn’t make him take his first hit of a joint like he was drinking a milkshake through a straw.”

Beverly and Stan continued to stare at each other down as Richie rubbed at his chest. Before Richie could even bring himself to speak, Bev and Stan started bickering and throwing insults at one another. 

“Are you serious?” The sudden, piercing voice of Eddie Kaspbrak broke through Stan and Beverly’s bickering, and another pair of hands suddenly landed on Richie’s back. “Did you invite him here to kill him?”

Beverly made some sort of retort but it was drowned out by Eddie helping Richie stand up straight and his head spinning. “Oh my God,” Richie said, pinching his eyes closed. He was suddenly reminded of being a kid, eyes closed in the back seat of his parents car with his head pressed against the window as streetlights passed him by. He wondered if he was swaying the way he felt like he was. “Jesus.”

“Come on, Rich.” Eddie said in his ear, and Richie was pretty sure he was being guided inside. He kept his eyes closed, enjoying the way he felt lighter than ever before. There was still a sharp burning in his chest that he knew he was feeling, but he was able to push it away from his mind. 

He was sat down on something soft, and there was a bottle being thrust into his hands. He took a sip from it, realizing to himself that he was putting a lot of trust into Eddie Kaspbrak for somebody he’d barely spoken to in years. He chugged the water, suddenly  _ parched,  _ and let his eyes open. 

It wasn’t like movies, or tv. Richie saw everything normally. Though being light headed, it wasn’t like the world was foggy or distorted. He could see just as clearly as he could any other time, though he thought he liked it better with his eyes closed. He didn’t realize that his thighs were twitching, or that the party goers in the room were giving him and Eddie weird glances.

“You alright, Richie?” Eddie asked, kneeling in front of Richie. His hand was resting on Richie’s knee, as it occasionally twitched underneath his touch. “They should have given you more warning to what it would be like before you took some stupid massive hit of a joint.”

Richie giggled, and crinkled up his face. “Eddie… Eds…” Richie reached out and rested a hand against the top of Eddie’s head. “Eddie, why didn’t we stay friends?”

Richie closed his eyes again as he registered the look of hurt and awkwardness on Eddie’s face. It was quiet for a moment, and Richie let himself go back to the feeling of being in the backseat of his parents car. He wished that he could really be there, really be a kid again. Things were so much easier back then. He voiced as much, not really giving Eddie any sort of chance to answer Richie’s question from before. Truthfully, he didn’t know why he asked- he didn’t want an answer.

“Yeah.” Eddie said, sounding like he was smiling. Richie opened his eyes again, and found that Eddie  _ was  _ smiling. He took Richie’s hands in his. “But hey, you know what? It’s alright, Richie. Maybe we stopped being friends when we were kids, but we can be friends now.”

Richie chuckled. “I like you, Eddie.”

Eddie grinned. “I like you, too, Richie.” He took Richie’s hands in his and he pulled Richie to his feet. Richie swayed slightly but managed to keep himself standing straight and not fall directly into Eddie’s chest. Though maybe that would have been nice. “Now come on, you just got here. You’re not allowed to be down and out yet. Let’s get some caffeine in you, then get relaxed enough to get a little crazy.”

Richie grinned as Eddie held onto his hand to guide him towards the kitchen. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I'm sorry for the real short chapter but it this really revs up the storyline and it felt important to me to keep it seperate from anything else, and truthfully I really wanted to update one of my multi chaptered fics.

Eddie’s leg was shaking a mile a minute as he sat on the bench. He didn’t know how this had happened, he’d never fallen behind before. Maybe he hadn’t always had the highest marks in the class, hell he definitely never would be, but he’d always done well enough. He knew that he needed to regularate a 70 average in his classes to be considered for any sports scholarships and 60 average to even remain on the track team. Sure, his coursework had been harder this year than last but he really thought he’d been doing okay. So imagine his surprise when he was pulled into the guidance counsellors office and told that two of his classes had slipped down under 50% and he was being pulled from the track team if he couldn’t bring his grades up within this quarter. 

“It’s still very close to the beginning of the semester, Eddie, so I don’t want you to worry too much just now.” Ms McCullough said in her usual overly cheerful voice. “You have plenty of time to get those marks back up. You’re a smart kid, Edward. You just need to get on top of the concepts you’re struggling with, and I don’t doubt that you’ll be back on track in no time.”

Eddie huffed out a frustrated breath. “I didn’t even realize there were things I didn’t understand.”

Ms McCullough hummed to herself and pulled out a small file from inside her desk. “Well, Edward, our does offer a tutorship program. Our teachers do the best that they can, but we sometimes find that some students learn better when they hear how their peers do things. I have a list-” She slid the paper across the desk while Eddie stared at her. “Every student on that list had agreed to help out students in need, this list is juniors and seniors who will be able to help you catch up in English and History.”

Eddie sighed and pulled the list closer to himself, glancing down at it. He recognized most of the names on the list, unsurprisingly, with how small the school was. Stanley Uris, Patricia Blum, Edward Corcoran, Richard Tozier… He folded the list in half and gave Mrs Cullough a forced smile. “Thank you. I’m sure this will be really helpful, I’ll get right on it.”

“You’re welcome.” Ms McCullough said. “You’re a smart kid, Edward, really. This is a very important semester for college applications. I know track means a lot to you, and you’re an amazing runner, but your grades are equally if not  _ more  _ significant than your running times. I want you to take this seriously, because it is. Look into the tutors and talk to your teachers, and if there’s something going on at home-”

“There’s not.” Eddie broke through her rehearsed counsellor speech. He flapped the folded piece of paper in the air and gave half her a smile. “Everything is fine, I really didn’t realize that my marks were slipping. I’m going to bring them back up. I swear. It is my number one priority.” 

Eddie fled the office before Ms McCullough could give him any more pointed but misguided advice. He booked it through the hall, nearly colliding with Mike Hanlon and Bill Denbrough in his rush to get as far away from the stupid guidance office as possible.

“Whoa, Eddie, practicing inside the building now?” Mike asked, helping Eddie steady back to his feet. Mike and Bill were both wearing their athletics hoodies, and their hands were tangled together in the middle. Eddie suddenly felt a rush of jealousy that he’d never experienced before with his friends. 

“More like running away from my problems.” Eddie tossed the list of tutors in Mike and Bill’s direction, both of them leaning over to read the names. “Apparently my marks have fallen to shit  _ both  _ English  _ and  _ History and I have until the end of the quarter to get them back up or I’m benched for the entire season.” 

“ _ This  _ season?” Bill gaped. “They can’t sit you out this se-se-season, this is when the scouts are going to come out, you need to be racing!”

Eddie tossed his hands into the air in frustration. “I know that, don’t you think I  _ know  _ that? I need to bring my grades up at least 30 percent to even qualify for the extra grants I’d need to pay the rest of the way after the potential scholarship I won’t get if I can’t run. So, I am, for lack of any other term- totally fucked.”

“Eddie, did you look at this list?” Mike asked, handing it back to him. “Tozier is totally infatuated with you, he’d probably drop everything to help you get your grades up if you ask him to.”

Eddie scowled and snatched the list back. “Shut up, he’s not infatuated with me. Asshole.” He grumbled. “We’re just friends,  _ barely  _ friends. I’m not- I’m not going to ask him for some huge favour, he’s got enough on his plate. Decathlon, cheerleading, his own classes-”

“And tutoring.” Mike said slowly. “He signed up, so he’s clearly interested in doing it. It’s something on his college applications, too. Ask him, he’s basically a genius.”

Eddie knew that, of course he did. Richie had always been inhumanly smart, spitting out information that he certainly had to reason to even know. Richie absorbed everything that was ever said in his presence, and Eddie swore he never forgot anything. 

“There’s l-l-lots of people on this list,” Bill pointed out when Eddie’s hesitation was obvious. “What about Patty Blum? She’s really n-n-nice, she’s in my bio class. She’s the r-r-reason I’m p-p-passing my bio class.”

Eddie frowned at the list. “Yeah but Patty Blum is dating Stan Uris, and Stan Uris hates me.”

“Didn’t you and Stan Uris used to be friends?” Mike asked.

“Yeah.” Eddie chuckled. “That’s pretty much why he hates me. But it doesn’t matter, it was a long time ago. I’m not going to dwell on what happened.”

He noticed how Bill and Mike exchanged a glance but Eddie just shoved the paper unceremoniously into the front pocket of his backpack. “Well,” Mike said quietly. “You have to do something. So it’s up to you, you can get a tutor you know you help you and that you’ll actually enjoy working with, or you can do something stupider.”

  
  


Eddie found Richie seated around the library with Stan, Patty and the rest of the decathlon team. Stan looked up the moment Eddie approached the table and frowned immediately. “This is a closed practise.” 

Eddie rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to take your common knowledge answers to the other schools, Stanley.”

“Common knowledge? So do you know what Olympian God gave up their seat of power for Dionysus when he came into creation?” 

Eddie opened his mouth, then quickly shut it with a deep frown. He caught Richie’s eye, who gave him a half grin. “Can I talk to you, Rich? Please?”

“Yeah.” Richie pushed the books aside and stood, following as Eddie moved away from the tables and towards the bookshelves. “What’s up, Eds?”

“I have a favour to ask you, but you can feel free to say no. Like do not feel obligated to say yes at all.” Eddie said quickly and Richie shot him a grin.

“Okay.” He said. “But we both know I’m probably going to say yes.”

“You don’t even know what it is yet.” Eddie said slowly. Richie shrugged one shoulder and Eddie rolled his eyes. “Fine, fine. Apparently, I’ve majorly fucked up and I’m almost failing both English and History, which means if I don’t get it together I’m going to yank off the track team and I won’t be able to get the financial aid I need for school, and McCullough gave him a list of tutors and you were on it and-”

“Eddie, of course, I’ll help you with your classes.” Richie laughed.

Eddie bit his bottom lip. “Are you sure? Like, really sure? Because I know you have a lot of shit on your plate right now, with decathlon and you’re going out for the cheerleading team, so if you don’t have time  _ please  _ don’t worry about it, really- I wasn’t even going to ask, honestly-”

“Eddie. Shut up.” Richie said fondly. “I’m obviously going to help you.”

Eddie sighed and squeezed his eyes shut. “Okay, but if you think you have too much going on at any point, just tell me to fuck off and I can figure something else out.”

Richie smiled and shook his head. “Has anybody ever told you that you need to relax?”

“It’s come up once or twice in my life, yeah.” Eddie replied dryly. 


End file.
